888.com world snooker championship 2007
Newsflash - New Kids On The Baulk!
Young snooker players should be encouraged by the great reception given to our eight Junior Pot Black contenders yesterday. The mini-tournament took off in Cuezone before a very supportive crowd of family, friends, coaches, commentators and inquisitive top 16 players, including John Higgins and Mark Allen.
The knockout-style competition, played on a full-sized match table, takes the form of four one-frame quarter-finals, followed by semi-finals of the same length. The final will be played in front of a live audience at the Crucible tomorrow morning.
The competition was hot this year.
Two-time under 16s Irish Champion, 15-year-old Sean Conway, said it was a big deal to play in the JPB tournament.
Current under 16s Irish Champion, Andrew Gray, 13, admitted he was very nervous about competing against the others.
“The facilities in England are great for snooker,” he said. “Unfortunately, we don’t have such a big scene or as many places to play in Ireland so it’s harder for us to become good.”
Andrew, whose favourite player is Mark Williams, gave a solid performance in his semi-final but was beaten by 15-year-old Mitchell Mann.
In Thursday’s final, Mitchell will meet fellow Englishman Jack Lisowski. This 15-year-old showed impressive form with a break of 85 in his semi-final against Welsh lad, Duane Jones.
In Thursday’s final, Mitchell Mann will meet fellow Englishman Jack Lisowski. Both played in Cuefactor MODS and POTTERS event at Pontin’s recently. Mitchell is a black band and Jack currently pink, so maybe that is an indicator of who will walk away with the prize.
Jack’s favourite player is John Higgins. “John was my inspiration to start playing,” he said. “I first picked up a cue in 1998, the year he won the World Title and haven’t stopped practising since.”
Jack, who is mentored by Terry Griffiths, has his sights firmly on being World Champion one day. But for now he is happy being the two-time Pontin’s under 15s Champion and is excited to be in the 2007 Junior Pot Black final.
“I can’t wait,” he said. “I am looking forward to the whole experience. I really want to put on a good performance. It’s my first time playing at the Crucible, I just hope I don’t get too nervous.”
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